


Back to Civilization

by Magicaleigh



Category: Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-04 11:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15840246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magicaleigh/pseuds/Magicaleigh
Summary: A short conversation between Ralph and Jack on the plane as they leave the island (after the book ends).





	Back to Civilization

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this like three years ago for an assignment in English class but I just found it again and... it's actually pretty good? So I decided to post it here.
> 
>  
> 
> P.S. I don't actually like Lord of the Flies :/ #sorrynotsorry

“How come you said you were boss? When the officer asked?” Jack asked.  
“‘Cause I am. They voted for me. And I had the conch.”  
“The conch’s broken. It doesn’t mean anything anymore,” Jack responded almost tentatively, apparently nervous to contradict the rules now that they had been reunited with the civilized world, where he knew they’d be enforced. Even if no one knew about that rule, the power that the conch had, they knew. Breaking rules felt wrong when there were adults around. Even if the grownups didn’t know, there was always that conspiratorial feeling.  
“Maybe not. But it was mine, until it got smashed,” Ralph stated matter of factly.  
“Yeah, but I had the fire, and the glasses, and the meat, and castle rock, and all the boys were listening to me, not you,” Jack countered. Suddenly it had become a competition again.   
“So what? No one ever voted for you, so you were never officially chief.”  
“It doesn’t matter whether it was official because everyone listened to me and that’s the only thing worthwhile about being chief anyway.”  
Ralph scowled, but didn’t argue. He wanted to say that Piggy hadn’t listened to Jack, and Samneric were only pretending, and most of the littluns stayed with Ralph, but he knew how feeble that would sound. Piggy was dead, so he didn’t count. Samneric might’ve been pretending, but they still listened to Jack, so they didn’t count either. And littluns don’t count for anything. Jack was right.   
The pair sat in silence for a while longer, until Jack broke the silence again.  
“Still, I suppose it doesn’t matter now who was chief. We’re all going home and then there won’t be a chief anymore,” he said haughtily, as though he really did think it mattered but was only saying this to make himself seem like the better person. “And I suppose you were right. We did need fire to get rescued.”  
That last bit almost seemed sincere, like a sort of peace offering, and Ralph was about to respond when Jack continued, “Of course it was I who set the fire what actually got us rescued…” This arrogance was like an afterthought, as if he couldn’t quite bear that he might have actually said something nice, so he had to ruin it by giving himself the credit.  
Then, like an after-afterthought, “I’m sorry for trying to kill you.”  
Ralph turned towards Jack, waited for him to take it back or add some cruel remark. When he didn’t, Ralph just nodded, content to stay silent.  
He’d had quite enough of Jack Merridew for this lifetime.


End file.
